Task dependency modelling to support assembly plant design

The authors describe one component of the PAVE (plant assembly verification environment) system that provides an environment for industrial engineers (IEs) to design automobile assembly plants. Managing the dependencies between assembly tasks is a significant problem in designing large plants. The authors describe a system that is capable of building a dependency network between tasks based on the job sheet descriptions IEs currently use. This dependency network enables PAVE to perform immediate consistency checking as tasks are assigned to assembly line locations, and to detect cycles between tasks and perform verification of a set of tasks represented in the dependency network. These capabilities allow PAVE to support industrial engineers during the design process and help manage the complexity of the problems they encounter